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Scholarly Publishing : More info: SCIMago Journal Rank (SJR)

This guide points users to information on academic publishing, covering topics such as measuring journal impact and quality, the peer review process, selecting the appropriate journal for publication, and more.

What is SCImago Journal Rank (SCR?)

The SCImago Journal Rank (SJR) is a metric used to assess the prestige of academic journals. It is a journal-level metric, meaning it evaluates the overall impact of a journal rather than individual articles.

How is SCImago Journal Rank Calculated?

The SJR, specifically the newer version called SJR2, is calculated by taking the weighted number of citations a journal's citable publications receive in a given year, based on articles published in the three preceding years. This total is then divided by the number of citable publications in the journal during those same three years. Citations from more prestigious journals carry greater weight, with the "prestige" being influenced by the field. Additionally, SJR considers the "closeness" of journals through co-citation networks, giving more weight to citations from closely related journals.

How do I Interpret a SCIMago Journal Rank?:

To interpret an SJR, consider the following example: If The Journal of Innovative Studies had an SJR of 2.3 in 2020, this means that articles published in The Journal of Innovative Studies during 2017, 2018, and 2019 received an average of 2.3 weighted citations in 2020. This reflects the journal's relative prestige and influence in its field during that time period.

 

Note: It is important to remember that SJRs are based solely on citations from publications indexed in Scopus; citations from non-Scopus publications are not included.

Finding a journal's SCImago Journal Rank

Finding a journal's SJR in Scopus

  1. Go to Scopus via the library homepage.
  2. Click "Sources" towards the top of the page, right-hand side.
  3. The default will allow you to search by subject area. If you would like to search by title, click the dropdown in the upper left-hand corner of the page where it currently says 'Subject area".
  4. From the dropdown, click "Title".
  5. Enter the name of the journal into the search bar.
  6. Look for the journal in your results.
  7. Click the title of the journal.
  8. The SJR will display in the upper right-hand corner of the page.

Finding a journal's SJR in SCImago

  1. Go to SCImago
  2. Enter the journal's title into the search bar in the middle of the page.
  3. Look for the journal in the results list.
  4. Click the journal name.
  5. Scroll down until you see a section labeled 'Quartiles'. Hover your mouse over different sections to see the quarterly ranking for different time periods.
  6. Scroll down until you see a graph labeled 'SJR'. Hover you mouse over different sections of the graph to see the SJR for that specific time period. You can also click the table view in the upper right-hand corner of the graph.

If you would like to see how a journal ranks among other journals in your field:

  1. Go to SCImago
  2. Click "Journal Rankings" at the top left-hand side of the page.
  3. Click "All Subject Areas" to select a subject area
  4. If you would like to narrow your subject further, click "All Subject Categories" to select a subject category
  5. Look for the journal in the results list
  6. The SJR will display in the third column from the left

Limitations of SCImago Journal Rank as a metric

- Skewed by citation outliers (a single highly-cited article can heavily influence the SJR).
- Penalizes interdisciplinary work (citations within the co-citation network are weighted more).
- Not all citations are positive (e.g., citing to dispute findings).
- "Good" SJR varies by field.
- Includes some self-citation (capped but still possible to game).
- Vulnerable to manipulation (e.g., citation cartels).
- Time-lag (reflects past citations, not current relevance).
- Language bias (English-language journals tend to have higher SJRs).
- Discipline bias (faster-cycling fields may have naturally higher SJRs).

-Overemphasis on journal impact (may overlook the impact of individual articles or authors).

 

 

Note* Most information on this page is adapted from UW-Madison LibGuide on Impact Metrics